Pitches wanted (food) | ~$675 to $1,080 per article

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: VITTLES

It’s a good time to remind everyone that we are always open to pitches for the Monday slot of the online newsletter. These are some of the themes that we’re prioritising this year:

• Investigative reported work, particularly on the subject of food production and distribution. We are looking for critically minded food journalism that involves deep reporting over a long period of time. Some examples of investigative work in Vittles or by Vittles editors include this piece by Sharanya Deepak on vegetarianism as a tool for punishment in India, this long-read by David Jesudason on curry house awards, and this account of delivery worker strikes in the UK by Callum Cant.

• Essays that uncover the story behind a phenomenon or aspect of modern food culture: We particularly love essays that, by focusing on one thing, reveal something surprising about how food culture spreads. Some particular favourites include this essay by Tim Anderson on how katsu curry became a British phenomenon, Digby Warde-Aldam’s look at how the design of Pizza Express changed British restaurants, and Kasia Tomasiewicz and Marta Zboralska’s cultural history of the polski sklep.

• Scams and feuds: So much of modern food culture is absurd, and driven by spite, ego and sometimes outright fraudulence. If there is a story with scams and feuds right at the heart of it then please pitch it to us. The more shenanigans the better.

• Food writing that holds particular resonance in the backdrop of rising fascism in Britain, concentrating on neighbourhoods or communities which have been unfairly demonised or underreported on. We are particularly looking for essays by writers embedded in these neighbourhoods and who have a stake in these communities. We especially want these pieces to engage critically with why something is being written about, rather than just ‘discovery writing’, which only aims to humanise certain communities through their cuisine or hospitality.

• South Asian writing: We are looking for interrogative, critical, reported features from South Asia that think about the political and social forces that influence food cultures in the subcontinent, labour in the kitchen, and also fun, dynamic stories about how people actually eat. (We are less interested in why a certain dish or cuisine is delicious, or about how your grandmother cooked.)

• Smart and sharp critiques of online food culture – the biggest driver of how food is changing today – and the consequences of the traditional-to-social media shift.

• Essays and polemics about the British hospitality industry written by people in the industry (and for other people in the industry). If you’re a chef, front-of-house worker, KP, restaurant owner, producer, supplier or distributor and you have something you want to write about the industry that you can’t think of a home for, then please get in touch. Essays can be written anonymously if preferred.

We particularly encourage writers who don’t consider themselves food writers to pitch, because we’re especially interested in ideas that can invigorate the often-staid ways that food is written about.

To pitch for the newsletter, please send us an email with PITCH in the heading to vittlespitches@gmail.com. We aim to reply to every single email, although due to the high volume of pitches, it can take up to six weeks for us to get back. Articles are commissioned at our usual rate of £500-800, depending on word count.

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CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

• Questions/submissions: vittlespitches@gmail.com

• Website: https://www.vittlesmagazine.com/

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: Vittles is an independent magazine that publishes writing on food, culture, and society from the UK, India, and beyond. It features essays, recipes, reviews, and reported pieces that explore themes such as class, migration, tradition, and social justice. The publication seeks to expand how food is written about by highlighting overlooked voices and political dimensions of eating. More information here.

• Read through a selection of recent articles/stories on its website.

• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook and at SuccessfulPitches.com.

• Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

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